Why did the Delhi High Court order Rajpal Yadav to surrender?

The Delhi High Court has ordered actor Rajpal Yadav to surrender in connection with a cheque bounce case, rejecting his request for additional time to comply with the court’s earlier directive.

Yadav had filed a plea seeking more time to surrender, stating that he needed additional days to arrange the required payment. However, the High Court dismissed his request, saying there was no sufficient legal basis to grant further relief.

On February 2, the court had directed Yadav to surrender by 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday, February 4. According to reports, Yadav’s lawyer informed the court that the actor had arranged 50 million Indian rupees and requested an additional week to deposit the remaining amount.

Justice Swarnakanta Sharma rejected the plea outright, stating that no valid grounds existed to extend the deadline. She noted that Yadav had already been given additional time earlier and had failed to comply.

In her order, Justice Sharma said she had previously rejected similar arguments and granted Yadav two extra days only because he claimed to be in Mumbai at the time. She made it clear that no further extension would be allowed and that Yadav must surrender by the specified deadline.

The court also took serious note of Yadav’s repeated failure to comply with court orders. It observed that he had disregarded judicial directions 15 to 20 times in the past, a pattern that had been mentioned in earlier orders as well. The court said Yadav had neither followed court instructions nor honored his commitments, leaving no room for leniency.

The actor is required to make payments in seven separate cases, amounting to 135 million Indian rupees in each case. The court further directed the Registrar General of the High Court to immediately release the amounts already deposited to the affected party.

The court noted that two demand drafts worth 75 million Indian rupees each had been deposited with the Registrar General in October 2025, but a total of 900 million Indian rupees still remains unpaid.

The case dates back several years. In April 2018, a lower court convicted Rajpal Yadav in the cheque bounce case, a verdict that was upheld by a sessions court in 2019. Yadav and his wife later challenged the conviction before the Delhi High Court, which has now issued the latest order in the matter.